[Stream] Beastyqt

Let's assume you go reactor hellion expand, standard build. First branch point is: do you make 4 hellions or 2 hellions? If you choose 4 over 2, there should be a reason. The 4 is intended to force him into defending harder and wasting larva. If he makes a shitload of lings, great. If you see an opportunity to sneak in and kill drones, great. If he is the type of player that particularly struggles at holding hellions off, you may even force him into a roach warren (which he may not have intended on), great. Worst case scenario is losing the hellions. You cannot afford to lose 400 minerals worth of hellions. You're better off denying creep spread than losing them.

Take note that if he makes a shitload of lings, you should have a high index of suspicion for banelings. There is no point in making lings that early otherwise. So if your hellions scout/die to a lot of lings, go ahead and throw 2-3 bunkers down at your nat, lift/build a rax between them, and wait for the baneling window. Meanwhile your remaining hellions should be trying to deny a 3rd. If he successfully puts a 3rd down, you're less suspicious of baneling bust and can move on with your build (but should still have high suspicion for baneling mines and thus should be saving up scans). You can expand yourself and prepare for muta or infestor now, which is the next branch point. This may be worth using a scan for, because if you scan and don't see a lair that means he's going all-in and you need to turtle hard. If you scan and see a lair but no spire or infestation pit, then he is hiding his tech and you need to prepare for the worst case scenario (mutas). You can try to scout with a stimmed marine or hellion (if you still have it) but if he's good he'll deny you that information. So just prepare for the worst case scenario and try to catch up (with ghosts) if he went infestor.

Let's assume you see mutas. Most zergs will start with 6-8 mutas to begin their harassment. You should be prepared for this by now. The big question here is: is he going more mutas or is he proceeding in his tech tree? I struggle at this point a lot as well, because I can't quite tell from what I scout (it's too hard to catch mutas in a scan, and you don't find out until your turrets are already dead). I guess one 'tell' would be if you see a 4th expansion or not, but it's kind of a soft sign at this point in the game because he can afford to do both. Maybe beastyqt can weigh in here and give some suggestions. But in any case, if you think he's going mass muta you need a thor. Otherwise you can continue tank/marine/ghost and prepare for either ultras or broodlords. Scan the lair again to see if he has a hive. That should tell you that he's transitioning off of muta harass, and to prepare for either ultras or broodlords. Both are susceptible to ghosts, so make those regardless. But scouting gives you the additional benefit of knowing if you should continue with mech (ultras) or viking.

Anyway, I hope this helps. It's hard for me to give details on every little thing since most things are situational, but it should give you some rough guideline.

Cheers.

btw hi chobo Alex